Bay of Plenty Regional Council: Wildings on Mt Tarawera
"Eradicating wilding pines is the healing not only of our whenua, but our people too."
Michael Playle, Ruawahia 2B Trust.
Marlborough
Saving ancient history and native bush from wilding pines in the Marlborough Sounds
Canterbury
Canterbury is where around half of the wilding conifer control operations through the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme happen. Historic plantings of species including Pinus contorta plague the region, including the unique Mackenzie Basin.
Without the efforts of Environment Canterbury and Wilding Free Mackenzie over many decades, and more than $60 million of control work through the National Programme since 2016, much of these landscapes would be gone.
From lake to mountain - wilding pine control at Ferintosh Station
In 2024–2025, contractors cleared 430 hectares of wilding pines— an area the size of Auckland’s CBD – near Lake Pūkaki. With multiple crews, using five control methods, this work is part of ongoing efforts to protect the Mackenzie landscape. Made possible by LINZ, DOC, ECan, and Biosecurity Zealand, working together through the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme.
Minding wetlands and native trees while removing wilding pines adds to the challenge of huge projects like this.
Wilding pines vs New Zealand alpine-natives on Mt Isobel
Out for a run in Hanmer Springs, Sherman Smith stopped to capture a devastating sight: Beautiful alpine native shrublands being wiped out ‘in real time’ by the shade of wilding conifers spreading across their mountainside. The further and bigger the wildings get, the more of our unique environment disappears.
Holding the line against wilding pines in the Mackenzie
Environment Canterbury: Managing wilding conifers
Environment Canterbury: Working together to fight wilding conifers in the Mackenzie Basin
Environment Canterbury: Wilding pines projects give workers a lifeline
Without all “the guys and girls on the hill” doing the hard mahi, the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme could not achieve the gains it has in protecting Aotearoa’s unique landscapes from wilding conifers.
